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At a glance:

The illusion of the journey

Travellers in Egypt consists of 28 essays presented at a conference held at Durham University in 1995. The very first essay sets the scene for the rest, dealing as it does with "The Representation of the Host Culture". In it, Hussein M. Fahim points out that travellers/tourists to Egypt come to see the two contrasting cultures that co-exist side by side. The ancient Egyptian civilisation was regarded as extraordinary and magnificent, while the modern way of life was thought to be medieval and backward. In his short essay he quotes the words of the anthropologist Claude-Levi Strauss: "I can understand the mad passion for travel books and their deceptiveness. They create the illusion of something which no longer exists but still should exist."

This is a fact of life. However, the writer seems to be upset that today's travel agencies promote tourism to Egypt very much along the same lines that dominated the writing of nineteenth-century European travellers. He views the practice as "alarmingly counter-productive" in relation to the country's aspirations and efforts to present itself, both to its own people and to the outside world, as an integrated culture, rather than a polarised society with potentially serious social and political prboems. The sad truth is that tourism to Egypt -- indeed to anywhere -- must seek to satisfy people's illusions. One sells what people want, be it the wonders of Luxor or changing the guard at Buckingham Palace.

Under the heading "Early Travellers", Rosemarie Said Zahlan has written a fascinating essay about a colourful character called George Baldwin. Born in 1743 the son of a London hop merchant, he sailed to Cyprus at the age of 17 and later set up in Acre as a silk merchant. In 1775 he went to Egypt where he was immediately struck by the great commercial and strategic potential of the country. The only English merchant residing in Cairo, he received no support from his own government and was in continual conflict with his French rivals, who, between Cairo, Alexandria and Rosetta, numbered a total of 61 at that time. Eventually he succeeded in persuading the British government to change its attitude towards Egypt and thus came to be appointed as Britain's first consul-general. Baldwin eventually left Egypt a sick and disillusioned man, having failed to achieve the financial success that his adventurous spirit and unique insight should have brought him.

There follow accounts of visits by several early Egyptologists, including that larger-than-life character Belzoni, who switched from being a circus strongman to become one of the pioneers of the new science. The essay on him by Peter Clayton makes for compulsive reading. Belzoni's life was truly the stuff of a novel.

An intersting section of the book is given over to literary figures who visited Egypt, with Mary Orr discussing Flaubert's journey, pointing out that even though his stay was brief, it exercised a very real influence upon his writing.

The book ends with a piece by Paul Starkey, one of the editors, about "Egyptian Travellers in Europe", rightly giving pride of place to Rifa'a al-Tahtawi's book Takhlis al-Ibriz ila talkhis Bariz, in which he recounts some of his experiences during his five-year stay in Paris from 1826.

While some of the names of the writers were known to me already, it would have been useful to have had more information about all those contributing to this book.